Rally Against Criminalization of Poker

I attended the rally at the Massachusetts State House today to support the PPA in their effort to strike the provision criminalizing online poker from Deval Patrick's casino bill. It turns out that there is another bill being proposed by Rep. David Flynn of Bridgewater which contains the same language: http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht00pdf/ht00357.pdf. It seems that the race track lobbyists are the prime suspects for placing this language in both bills, but no one will own up to it, nor will anyone admit to supporting the provision.

If you live in Massachusetts, you should be paying attention to this.

Mass Poker Playing Could Be Criminalized

Go here for more info:

http://pokerplayersalliance.org/pressreleases/newsandarticles_article.php?DID=362

Governor Deval Patrick's casino bill criminalizes online poker, to the tune of 2 years in the state pen, and $25,000. For players. Needless to say, I am outraged by this underhanded and hypocritical attempt to babysit the citizenry. I will be attending a rally on March 18, 9:30 am at the State House to protest this sleazy bit of politics (now that the paragraph has been discovered, no one will admit having included it in the first place.) I will also be contacting my state reps to let them know that I am a voting poker player, and to vote against the casino bill as long as it includes this provision.

:wq

Math Night

Well, it's not MATH night, because that is on Monday, by definition. But it was Math Night at my daughter's school. One of the games was to place six different colored tiddly winks in a paper bag, and keep making draws until you got at least one draw of each different color. There were apparently many who didn't understand, because 6 draws hit about 6 different people. Uh-huh. Maybe try putting the wink back in the bag and mixing them up between draws? The rest of them seemed fairly normal (heh), with one kid taking 19 tries and one taking 26. We got a 13 and an 11. If you squinted real hard, the distribution on the blackboard was starting look like a normal distribution. It was fun spending time with my daughter doing math games, and I will be looking for similar games we can play at home (a lot of them are on her homework sheets, but most of those are more quizzy than game-y.) We walked home by the light of the moon, and enjoyed the stars.

Tonight is also Mookie Night, and I will once again be trying to win a place in the tournament of champions of the BBT3. I cashed in both points and money in last night's Skills game, coming in 4th place. The game was Pot-limit Omaha, and I had a lot of good hands, combined with a dose of luck to make the final table. I think I must have had aces or kings at least 20 times, and doube-suited aces several of those times. I also pulled off a bluff that was either stupid or decent. I happened to be bluffing with the best hand, but I was doing it into a bigger stack, and he called me on the flop and turn. The river gave me a higher two pair on a board with a possible straight and a couple of flush draws that didn't get there. He folded, and I survived. On my final hand, I either called a small raise in a four-way pot or checked the big blind. In any case, I didn't have much of a hand, but I hit top two pair on a rainbow flop, and figured I'm good to go. I bet the 16K pot, and Astin raised all-in, having me covered. I instacalled and lost to his middle set. I'm not sure I have the discipline to get away from that hand in a short-handed situation. I should at least have taken my time to consider what he could have: bottom set, AKJ9 for a wrap draw (QT were on the board), AQxx, KQJx, TTxx (not likely), or QQxx (not likely). It turned out he had TTxx, which I didn't consider likely. So in addition to my "must have draws" PLO mantra, I will add, for all pot-limit and no-limit games, pause before calling off all of my chips.

:wq

Vegas Baby!

I made my hotel reservation for a quick trip to Vegas at the end of the month. I had a free Jet Blue ticket, and researched the cheapest hotels. I found the site TravelWorm.com through CheapoVegas.com, and I got a free night at the Palms. Since I'm only staying two nights, I'm getting a rate of less than $50 a night. I wanted to stay right on the strip, but I figure I can't beat that price. I've been to the Palms before, to a party at the nightclub Rain. I suppose if you're a twenty-something shallow person, it's probably a great place, but I thought it was lame. I grabbed some free food and drink and headed for the poker room at a dead run.

On this trip, I think I'll try to get the free shuttle to the strip (it may be to the shopping area) and play at Luxor and Excalibur. I may also try out the Caesar's Palace tournament, which I've heard is a decent deal. I'm getting in late on Sunday the 30th, so I'll either sleep or play at the Palms if there's a good game going. Either way, I'll sleep very late the next day, and then play as long as I can on Monday.

I'm back playing in the BBT3 tournaments this week. I busted out of the MATH tonight in 13th place out of 86, to earn a few points for something or other. I was mostly happy with my play, except for about 3 hands. One was raising almost half my tiny stack with A6o, and calling the button's reraise. I ended up sucking out with a 6, but, I should have gone all in instead of raising a smaller amount with a relatively weak hand. The second was reraising Kat's 3x raise when she was short, and taking a chunk out of my replenished stack. And the third was calling a reraise after a steal attempt with KJs against tilt away. He went all in on the flop, and I had to fold, leaving me short again. I doubled through the chip leader, then got short again, and finally went out after a small flurry of eliminations, probably gaining some extra points for something.

:wq

Case Dismissed

From the Simpsons movie, one of our favorite lines:

Stereotypical Jewish Mother (who is being arrested for some reason): Latkes are a deep-fried...

Chief Wiggum: Case dismissed.

An update on the note that my daughter found in her backpack. The teacher apparently read the note to the class, without naming my daughter, and said it was bad to do such things. I said great, now she will get retribution for being a tattle-tale. However, the teacher also wrote a note to Mrs. Burger, starting off with:

Dear Mrs. Burger, You are such a great mother!

Mrs. Burger: Case dismissed.

Too friggin funny.

Also funny is my Pot-Limit Omaha playing ability. Although I went out early in last night's Riverchasers tournament, I think I only made one bad blunder. That was the mistake of making a continuation bet on a board with 10-9-8 (or possibly J-10-9) against bayne (the bayne of my existence in this case.) I had just an overpair, and no draw, so I had to fold when he check-raised me. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do in that case, even though I have position. Probably I should just check behind and give up on the hand. I had about 4k in chips left, and the blinds were at 80 and 160. Still enough to do some damage if I'm the one check-raising all-in. I think the takeaway from this hand is that the continuation bet is pointless in PLO. Unless you've got a decent draw and/or a made hand that you're willing to call a reraise with, you should not make the continuation bet.

I had experienced both edges of the drawing sword earlier. On the first hand, I had two pair on the flop, and the turn gave me a boat against my opponent's ace-high flush. He thought it was good, and I more than doubled up early. I started playing more hands, seeing if I could hit a flop with a big draw for me. It didn't happen, and I slowly chipped down. I then had a hand where both my opponent and I obviously had made the nut straight on the turn, but I had no draws. He did, and hit the full house on the river, but checked it. I had raised him on the turn, and he should have reraised on the turn or at least bet the full house on the river. I probably should have just called the turn bet, because I had no redraws. I guess my thinking was to try and take it down right then. I will internalize the mantra for next time: "Must have draws."

I will play in Kat's donkament tonight, but I will not reveal my strategy. Well, OK, since no one reads this, I will reveal it. The basic strategy is only to purchase 1000 chips at a time, rather than the double rebuy of 2000 chips. When you do this, you have the advantages of playing with a short stack, which are easier decisions, and free fold equity from other players while you are all in. Of course, you have to maintain the illusion that you are as loose and wild as everyone else, so you should go all in 4 or 5 hands in a row at some point. If you have a stack at the end of that, great, if not, you will get calls on your next all-in, which will be with a hand. With 20 minutes left in the rebuy period, up your rebuys to double if the other stacks are 8-10k or bigger. If they are still 4-6k, then stick with the singles.

If you have only 10 minutes left, then you have to play more hands and be more aggressive. Don't end up with a lame stack that will leave you with less than 3500 after the add-on at the break. Bet the odd chips so that you have 1000 exactly, or more than 2000 if you win.

After the break, there will usually be way more chips in the tournament than are normal for the first hour (this is true for all rebuy tournaments, I guess, but is more pronounced when the rebuy is only $1.) So if you have a big stack, you can afford to be very patient at this point. Don't double up the short stacks with coin flips, and don't get into big pots without a great hand. I like to attack the middle stacks when possible, no matter what size stack I have -- they have the most to lose, and so you gain some fold equity when playing against a middle stack as opposed to a desperate short stack or complacent big stack.

Last week, I missed the start of the tournament, but I won't miss it this week. After all of those tough BBT3 tourneys, it should be a lot of fun.

:wq

So Stupid

My daughter came home the other day with a note in her backpack that said "You're stupid" and it was signed "from Tom" (name changed to protect the youngun who may or may not have perpetrated this dirty trick.) Three problems are immediately evident:

1. Some kid is picking on my daughter, and she feels bad about it. She has had trouble adjusting to her new school, especially in math, and maybe she feels stupid. My wife and her brother helped her disperse those negative thoughts, and I'm going to be helping her out more actively with the math.

2. The note was in a second-grader's large scrawl, and the signature was in a 3rd-through-5th-grader's smaller, neater printing, indicating that possibly two people wrote the note.

3. The signature was misspelled! This is a huge clue!

Here's my theory: it was the son of the lady at Bingo Night, and they were talking about my daughter the next day at the dinner table. The son is in my daughter's class, and has an older brother at the school. So I think the boys conspired to write the note, and tried to pin it on a classmate. All the more reason to bench them if they are ever on a team that I coach.

Alternate theory: "Tom" wrote the note, and intentionally wrote the "You're stupid" in poor writing, and intentionally misspelled his own name. Probably not. You can reasonably assume that an older brother would say to a younger brother, "Hey! Sign it with Tom's name, and you won't get caught!" But it would take a true future deviant to come up with the double-reverse trick of misspelling his own name in a different hand.

Mrs. Dino's theory: Whoever wrote the note thinks my daughter is So Saga, and this is his way of expressing his love. I suggested that we go to the valentines, and compare the handwriting, but she thinks we should just talk to the teacher about it. Too sensible.

I've played 4 events so far in the BBT3, and cashed in last night's Stud Hi version of the Skills Series. I was very lucky to make the BBT points (top 25%) and the money (top 15% or so). I was squeaking by with a very short stack, and at one point got the rest of money in behind early in the hand, and hit trip 3's to take the hand and cripple my opponent. He said "So stupid". I assume he was talking about my play, and not me, and I later apologized for my stupid play on his blog. He replied and it's all good. Too sensible.

Tonight, in the Mookie, the same player sits down directly to my left! That's not good, because it means he will have the preferred position in most hands when playing me. I would rather it be the other way around, to give me a fighting chance. Anyway, I was out early tonight after getting good cards, but losing on consecutive hands to a crippling suckout (80/20, so not that unusual) and a coinflip for my greatly diminished stack.

I'll have an update on the stupidity in a few days.

:wq

First World Problems

So much whining to do, and so much time.

The Brazilian ladies who clean our house had the audacity to show up while we were still eating breakfast. I told their boss to start always after 9 am. Boo hoo hoo.

I can't get into the shower because they are still cleaning up in our room. Boo hoo hoo.

I can't go to work and shower because the wife took off with my car, the cleaners parked behind her car, and, well, I don't want to just take Granny's car. Plus, I don't have shower privileges yet at work, and I would have to do another geek in front of the cheerleaders thing (Here, let's walk past all the sales guys and marketing chicks to fill out this needless insurance paperwork.) Sob!

I had to do my exercises this morning without the help of the DVD, because I left my laptop power supply at work, and ran the battery down last night. No battery also means I can't login and delete my email or get some work done. Waaaaaah!

Last night in the second BBT3 event, Mondays at the Hoy, I played fairly well, and got my money in with the better hand against pushmonkey72, and he hit his three-outer on the turn to send me packing. Snivel. Quiver.

So, I'll have to wait it out and read poker blogs while waiting for my bathroom to free up and for my wife to get home with my car. I guess that's better than being blown up by a suicide bomb, cruise missile, or mortar fire. Or being hacked to death or beaten by the police for my political beliefs or ethnic background. Or having to walk five miles for fresh water and firewood (can you say "courtesy flush" and "nice long hot shower"?) Or being in danger of foreclosure. Or wondering if I can scrape up enough money for my next hit.

So I think I'll STFU (as it says on my T-shirt).

:wq